Here’s the good news: Happiness is the direct and unavoidable result of the correct application of those principles that produce it. By discovering the principles upon which happiness is predicated, we will predictably experience more of it.

The principles of happiness can roughly be divided into one of the following 4 categories. This post covers the first one.

Thinking Happy

Following are 10 ways of habitually thinking that are guaranteed to add joy to your life. The key to greater happiness, however, is to move these ten ways of thinking from the level of technique to the level of what you might call a habit of thought.

This will require a driving hunger to improve your life, the persistence to see the habituation of new ways of thinking, and a lot of work. But it is achievable. And the results will be well worth the sustained effort.

1. Think Positively

It seems that positive thinking has come under fire a bit from some quarters lately. But much of the criticism has positive thinking mostly wrong. It is not so much the recitation of affirmations that fly in the face of reality, as much as a rigorous retraining of the mind and attitude to learn to see things in brighter hues.

Positive thinking, in a word, is a learned trait. We can improve how positively we see the world by choosing what aspects of it to focus our attention on. The rewards of such an effort are life-changing.

2. Think Optimistically

Optimism is the belief that things will work out, that there is a bright tomorrow lurking around the gloomy corner. It is faith and hope in action. It is proactively doing in the face of obstacles because of the faith you have that you will be able to overcome those obstacles. Practical optimists believe in a brighter future. They have confidence that things will work out … in part because they then take steps to create that future and work things out.

Note: Optimism and positive thinking are often used interchangeably. But there is a difference. Where positive thinkers see the blue sky around the cloud, an optimist sets up a picnic expecting the cloud to blow away. A practical optimist sets up the picnic beneath a yawning … just in case!

3. Think Creatively

Learn. Expand your mind. Read broadly. Travel, if you can. Expose yourself to other cultures and ideas. Challenge your thinking. Don’t get intellectually lazy. An active, engaged mind is a happy mind … and a more creative one. Fostering creative thinking is difficult to do in a vacuum.

And, frankly, positive thinking requires some creativity. I can complain about the rain for ruining my plans, or I can use my imagination to come up with something even better.

Creative thinking can lead to creative ways to overcome problems and to create a life that impassions and excites you.

4. Think Perspective

There are different ways of changing your perspective in ways that positively affects your happiness. One way is to see the trials of life through the lens of other people’s difficulties.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t advocate comparing yourself to others. And in truth, I’m not really doing that here either. Rather, it’s more a broadening of your perspective, seeing your life and your problems within a larger contextual picture. Come check out the video clip linked here (introduced to me by my new friend, Marianne Irvine) to see what I mean. This is a MUST see!!! (but be sure to come back and finish reading this article … and leave a comment … and subscribe … and share on your favorite social media … and send me money … and, well, never mind)

5. Think Purposively

Choose your thoughts; don’t let them choose you! Think with purpose and direction, with a plan in hand and a destination in mind. The more thought you put into the things in your life that matter most, the more effective you will likely be at creating the life you would love to live. Lazy, wandering daydreaming leads to nothing but less time to do what can lead to amazing opportunities. A mind left to wander on its own often gets filled with thoughts that pool at the lowest points of the moral landscape. Instead, learn to choose what you will think about. Fill your amazing mind with amazing ideas. And then think creatively about them.

6. Think Elevated Thoughts

We are dual-natured. We can think small, angry, self-serving thoughts that are cynical, lustful, prideful, fearful, boastful, resentful, condemning, judging, greedy, shrinking thoughts. Or we can think with and about thoughts of nobility and honor and love and graciousness and humility and forgiveness and gratitude and faith and trust and benevolence. I’ll leave it to you to decide which list of thoughts will produce a happier life.

Thinking kind thoughts about people, for example, simply feels so much better than thinking hateful or critical thoughts about them. And yet we spend so much time judging others, talking about them behind their backs, speaking foul things in foul ways about aspects of their lives we know little about. It serves us nothing, but to damage our relationships and the sense that our existence makes the world a better place.

So stop the gossip. Stop the backbiting. And learn to see the best in others, to wish the best for others, to think the best about others. You do, after all, hope others will do as much for you!

7. Think Funny

Developing a good sense of humor is essential to happiness. Laughter is truly the best medicine to a melancholy life, especially when life throws you a curve ball or two. So go and find your funny bone! Especially important is being able to find the humor in life’s challenges and missteps and not taking yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself and at your own idiosyncrasies and shortcomings. You will feel the happier for it!

8. Think Solutions

Things of the mind tend to grow larger with focus and attention – and our problems are just all too willing to accommodate that fact. So starve your problems and feed the growth of solutions to them instead.

Rather than worrying about your difficulties (which does nothing to improve circumstances, but lots to expand the size of the problem in our minds — and the stress associated with that expansion), spend your time and energy thinking of possible solutions to the difficulty you are having instead — or of ways to prevent the potential problem from ever developing in the first place!

Happy people are solution-oriented. Unhappy people are problem-oriented. Change that orientation and more happiness will be yours for the picking!

9. Think Long-term

Cheating on your spouse with the secretary is more immediately pleasurable than the necessary work of renewing a neglected marriage. The party tonight is more enjoyable than the hours needed to prepare adequately for the exam tomorrow. Eating the box of donuts now is more rewarding this moment than reeducating your palate and eating the quality food that will prolong a healthier, more rewarding life of energy, stamina and mental acuity.

But all such short-term thinking, under the pressure and the pull of immediate gratification, comes at a great cost to future happiness. Instead, learn to delay short-term satisfaction for the much bigger long-term rewards.

10. Think Possibility and Opportunity

Limited and limiting thinking produces limited and limiting results. Some people wait for life to happen to them. They check their daily lucky numbers and review their horoscopes to determine their course of action that day. Others decide what they want out of life and create opportunities that provide it. Some think fear and caution. Others think possibility. Some ask “Why?” Others ask “Why not? And why not now? And why not me?” Some wonder why things just never quite work out for them. And others wonder what they can do next to step that much closer to the vision they have of a life they are willing to create.

Afterthoughts

How you think and what you think about, over time, largely creates the circumstances of your life … including the degree to which happiness and joy and love and excitement and passion and purpose and meaning will play a major role in it.

It takes a tough person to learn to think differently. We develop patterns of thought, habitual ways of thinking, over the course of a lifetime. To change course midstream requires a tremendous effort of will in many cases.

But we can learn to think differently and to view the world with new eyes.

I repeat here as I started: While these ways of thinking can be used as techniques to massage a few more tremors of happiness from your mind, the real key to a life brimming with joy is to truly change the way you think, to develop habitually positive, optimistic, creative, humorous, solution-oriented thinking. This is because once your thoughts have changed, life will begin the process of reshaping itself to fit that new reality.

11 Comments

Viewing my attitude as the main obstacle in an unpleasant situation has really helped me to continuously work on thinking happy. Sometimes it is more challenging than other, but it is always worth the effort.

Yes, Wendy! It takes a whole lot of discipline to take a step back and view our attitude during such times.

And it can be a very difficult thing to do — to view our attitude as the main obstacle in an unpleasant situation when it is another person making the situation so unpleasant! But you are right, Wendy! Another person’s unpleasantness is only unpleasant to the degree our attitudes allow the unpleasantness in.

This principle is so liberating and empowering! And yet others resist it with so much passion. It can be a hard doctrine to accept responsibility for how we feel EVEN when another person is acting so unreasonably or rudely or negatively. We still own our emotions. It is a lesson many never learn.

And you are also correct is saying the struggle you and I both have in maintaining that attitude of happiness during unpleasant situations is well worth the effort.

The pull of immediate gratification is such a powerful lure. But it also can be so destructive. How many dreams have been lost and goals forfeited because of the difficulty in putting aside and TV or the internet or whatever the short-term draw is to pursue longer-ranged objectives? So many would-have-beens drying on the vines of life!

It’s so true that when we are tired or worn down, sick or otherwise drained of energy, we can feel less happy in the moment. But such are circumstantial moments, rather than general states of being.

I guess that’s how I see happiness and how I differentiate it from more temporary feelings of excitement or fun or satisfaction. All happy people have down days. The question seems to me to be whether we are generally happy with some fleeting moments of disappointment and frustration, or are we usually frustrated and disappointed with some temporary moments of joy?

The mindsets, attitudes or habits of thought I presented here can’t protect us from EVER feeling down, but can help us feel like life is generally good and that we are happy, even if not during every moment of every day.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I have my own lasso hanging from my belt!

I still remember the day I was introduced to a small little booklet that forever changed my life. It was back in 1987. I was casually looking at the titles of a few books on a friend’s desk and was caught by the smallness and title of a book called, “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen.

I couldn’t put it down and read it almost in a single breath. But if ever brevity was no judge of importance, it was that book for me! It was a revolution of heart and mind — the first time I had come across such ideas so plainly and succinctly stated.

And it’s been a love affair with the idea of thought as the creator of my reality ever since.

Thanks for commenting, Peter. I truly appreciate your insights on life.

PS: I’ve been visiting your site a lot lately (and seeing you around elsewhere too!). I love what you do!

Leave a response

A Walk Through HappinessGet my FREE eBook and monthly newsletter by subscribing below!

Email Address*

First Name

Your email will NEVER be shared with anyone

About Me

Hi! I’m Ken Wert, founder of M2bH. My purpose here is to inspire you to live a richer life of greater purpose and meaning, of mind-blowing possibility and deeper, more soul-satisfying happiness than you ever dreamt was possible. Join us on this adventure of unlocking hidden potential to enjoy the rewards of a life well lived. Read more ...

Why M2bH?

M2bH is a resource for those seeking happier, more meaningful lives.
We provide the ideas, tools and motivation. You supply the effort. Together, life can bloom into something unimaginable!
(see my "About" Pages for more info.)
You truly were meant to be happy. If you're not, come discover how that can change!